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Four Huskies Earn All-America Honors

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Four Washington volleyball players have received All-America honors, it was announced today by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Junior setter and senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic were first team picks, while senior libero Candace Lee was a second team honoree and sophomore outside hitter Christal Morrison was a third team selection. Washington and Nebraska were the only teams to have four players earn All-America honors.

The Huskies, who have earned 15 All-America awards, have won seven in the last two seasons and nine since head coach Jim McLaughlin took over the program in 2001. Nine of Washington's honorees have been first team selections.

Thompson picked up first team honors for the second year in a row and is Washington's only two-time first team award winner. She leads the nation with a 14.83 assists per game average and has paced the Huskies to the second-best hitting percentage in the nation (.341). Thompson is the school's all-time assists leader and her 4,746 dishes rank sixth on the Pac-10 all-time list. She ranks third on the team with 27 aces and set an NCAA record earlier this season when she served 18 consecutive points vs. Gardner-Webb. Thompson, who was named to the College Station Regional All-Tournament Team, is also a two-time Academic All-American with a 3.53 grade-point average in Business.

Tomasevic earned first team honors after being a second team pick in 2003. Washington's first Pac-10 Player of the Year, Tomasevic leads the Huskies with 4.53 kills per game and 5.44 points per game. She holds the school career records for kills (1,771), kills per game (4.58), total attacks (4,323), service aces (155), points (2,131) and points per game (5.51). Tomasevic is one of only three Huskies to record 1,000 career kills and digs. She has 25 double-figure kill performances this season and was named to the College Station Regional All-Tournament Team.

Lee earns her second All-America award after being an honorable mention pick in 2004. She is the all-time digs leader at Washington (2,012) and ranks second on the Pac-10 all-time chart. Lee holds the career digs per game record (4.67), which will easily eclipse the Pac-10 record of 4.46 dpg, set by UCLA's Chrissie Zartman (2001-04). She ranks 1-2-3 on the Washington all-time single-season digs list and is just the second played in Pac-10 history to collect 2,000 career digs. Lee is also a two-time Academic All-American with a 3.78 grade-point average in English.

Morrison picks up her second All-America award after earning second team honors last season. She ranks sixth in the Pac-10 with a .343 hitting percentage, 5.30 ppg and 4.30 kpg. Morrison has 53 aces this season, which ranks second in the Pac-10 (0.53 sapg) and third on the UW single-season list. She has 24 double figure kill performances, eight double-doubles and was named the Most Valuable Player at the College Station Regional.

The 32 athletes named to the first, second and third teams will be presented with awards Friday at the AVCA All-America/Player of the Year Banquet in San Antonio, Texas.

The Huskies will play in the national semifinal vs. Tennessee Thursday at 4 pm (PT)., at the Alamodome. Nebraska and Santa Clara square off in the other semifinal at 6 pm, with the winners advancing to the National Championship, Saturday, Dec. 17 at 3 pm.

The semifinal matches will air live on ESPNU and will be tape-delayed on ESPN2. The Washington/ Tennessee tape-delay will air on Thursday at 8 pm (PT) and the Nebraska/Santa Clara match will replay on Friday at 11 am. The National Championship will air live on ESPN2.